I don't know if everyone is familiar with Ireland and it's curious gender policies.

Quote:

The Magdalen laundries were workhouses in which many Irish women and girls were effectively imprisoned because they were perceived to be a threat to the moral fiber of society. Mandated by the Irish state beginning in the eighteenth century, they were operated by various orders of the Catholic Church until the last laundry closed in 1996. A few years earlier, in 1993, an order of nuns in Dublin sold part of their Magdalen convent to a real estate developer. The remains of 155 inmates, buried in unmarked graves on the property, were exhumed, cremated, and buried elsewhere in a mass grave. This triggered a public scandal in Ireland and since then the Magdalen laundries have become an important issue in Irish culture, especially with the 2002 release of the film “The Magdalene Sisters.”

Here is some testimony from women who were forced to go to England for an abortion even after receiving word that there were serious issues and that their babies would die. After being told that your child would die, I cannot imagine being told that I had to carry it to term because of other peoples' religious beliefs.

Thanks for posting this. I actually have a friend who wrote a book about the Magdalene laundries (http://undpress.nd.edu/book/P01180), and it was one of the first things that came to my mind while reading through this thread. I'm not going to wade in on the race issue, but it is a truth (that should be) universally acknowledged that Catholic government in Ireland has a has a lot to answer for in its long and shameful history of mistreating women.

Obstetrician–gynecologists working in Catholic-owned hospitals described cases in which abortion was medically indicated according to their medical judgment but, because of the ethics committee's ruling, it was delayed until either fetal heartbeats ceased or the patient could be transported to another facility. Dr P, from a midwestern, mid-sized city, said that at her Catholic-owned hospital, approval for termination of pregnancy was rare if a fetal heartbeat was present (even in “people who are bleeding, they're all the way dilated, and they're only 17 weeks”) unless “it looks like she's going to die if we don't do it.”

_________________Goddamn that Rick Santorum has a pretty mouth. -sameness

Sometimes I wonder if humans will ever stop inventing ways to be horrible to each other. I've been going back and forth between rage and despair on Savita's behalf for the past several days. To think that anyone could have made the decision-- for ANY reason-- to deny a woman the healthcare she needed to survive in order to let a dying fetus finish dying-- is so forking horrible.

Savita wasn't Irish, she and her husband were Indian, and had been living in Galway for 4 years.

I honestly don't know if Savita's race/ethnicity/nationality affected the treatment she received; I certainly hope not. I have been hearing stories all week of other women who had to go through similar situations. Even though the constitution has changed to technically allow abortion in cases where there is a 'substanatial risk to the life of the mother' this has not been legislated for, i.e. it is still illegal for doctors to perform abortions, even where there is a risk to the life of the mother. Even had this legislation been passed, it is unclear that it would have helped Savita, as there may not have been a risk to her _life_ before the foetus was delivered.

Women in Ireland are not given terminations for medical reasons (such as when the foetus has conditions incompatible with life) - there are heartbreaking personal stories on this website: http://www.terminationformedicalreasons.com/ (Vantine has given another link above).

Bumping to post this piece about my friend who works on the Magdalene Laundries. (On a side note, it was written by another friend, also named Smith, but no relation. Whole lotta Smiths at Boston College!)